Crashing Waves
by KittyDaydreamer
Summary: In her sleep, Sailor Neptune sees the past and gets a cryptic warning.


Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon, it belongs to Naoko Takeuchi and Toei. I do not profit from this story

Warnings: Death, woman who loves another woman, yada yada.

Part of the Lonely fire-verse, companion to Darkening Skies and Dreams of Destruction

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Crashing Waves

It's a familiar scene, one of a pair of lovers, sandy-and ocean-haired, asleep in bed. The sandy-haired Haruka tosses and turns, sweat beading on her forehead. She accidentally touches the ocean-haired Michiru, and stills. A look of distress flits over Michiru's face, and she turns away from the peaceful Haruka. In her dreams, Michiru is drowning in the dark, deep down in the sea. She knows that she is dreaming. She also knows that this is more than a simple dream. Though frightened in her dark ocean dream, she does not allow it to show. Even in a nightmare, she remains stone-faced and calm. In her sleep, the Deep Aqua Mirror appears in her hands, and the black sea clears. She can see the darkness at its source, the core of the Earth, infecting the sea and sky. A flash, and she is floating in the air, looking down on a different ocean, one she's never seen. The waves move strangely, but looking at it gives her a sense of belonging. This ocean is something she should be familiar with. The wild waves make it impossible to see beneath the surface, but somehow, she sees a fire, a fire in the depths of that ocean. she reaches for the fire in her dream and the Deep Aqua Mirror falls from her hand. She plunges into the darkness again, a bone-chilling evil darkness that laughs coldly without joy. A chill runs down her spine, but she refuses to show fear.

"What are you?" she questions. It continues to laugh, and its evil is suffocating. She wonders if the vision is about this evil, or if the evil is trying to block her vision. The laughter becomes a cold, physical thing, leaching away at her mobility in the dream. Gathering strength, in her dream Michiru becomes Sailor Neptune, and her sleeping body grabs the mirror again. The darkness is obliterated, replaced by a blinding white light.

"You need to remember, Sailor Neptune, it's coming. Prepare... remember..."

She knows the voice, but in the fog of dreams, she can't place it. She finds herself above the strange ocean again, looks, and finds the fire. The light and the voice have faded, and the sea draws her in. She swims for the fire, but no matter how far she swims, it's still beyond her reach. She looks up to the surface, and the scene changes. She's caught in memories that she'd taught herself not to think about.

Princess Neptune had been raised primarily by tutors. Like Princess Uranus, she had never known her father. Her mother was Sailor Neptune, and she rarely saw her. Her mother had loved her dearly, but growing up under the tutelage of palace tutors, Princess Neptune grew cold, and eventually her mother stopped trying to see her. Princess Neptune was a perceptive young woman, and she knew her servants and her court were plotting against her. She traveled to the Moon Kingdom, the most neutral and moral planet in the alliance, but was disappointed to find that Queen Serenity had less freedom than she did. It was while visiting Queen Serenity that she first met Princess Uranus. Helena. Her Helena. Their eyes had met, and though outwardly they were as different as Mars and Mercury, on the inside, they wore matching armor around their hearts. They quickly became friends, and met often. Aside from the politically powerless Queen Serenity, they only trusted each other. Neptune taught Uranus how to better manage her anger (though she still broke her right hand with a greater frequency than Neptune liked...), and Uranus taught Neptune how to express her feelings. Neptune had always felt a bit guilty about that; Uranus had given her more than she could give in return.

Neptune had known that she ran the risk of falling in love with Uranus, but spending time with her was like an addiction, the only solace in a world that was against them. She knew that Uranus felt the same. They only had each other. Their entire lives they hadn't been anything but future outer senshi, but when they were together, things were different. Together they created their own identities, and dreamed out loud about living different lives, choosing their own fates. They named each other. Neptune named Uranus Helena, and Uranus named Neptune Maria. They were anchors for each other, safe harbors in the storms that surrounded them.

The day that she became Sailor Neptune was the day that she died. After Queen Serenity teleported her away, she spent the rest of the day crying in her room. After she emerged, she never again detransformed. She lived as Sailor Neptune, day and night, and the thawing sea of her heart froze over completely. Maria had felt like a lone tear drop lost in the sea. Sailor Neptune felt nothing. She looked down on her planet from her palace, and saw what it was becoming under the management of corrupt officials. She knew she was supposed to feel something, but she was numb. She and Sailor Uranus could have communicated through the palace systems, but there was no point if they could never meet. She knew Sailor Uranus felt the same.

Hundreds of years went by, and Sailor Neptune did her duty flawlessly. She watched. For once, the alliance was not at war with any other systems, so Sailor Neptune's life went on, without purpose, and she would wonder why she had been forced to give up her freedom for this. Though it was a Silver Millennium with no war, corruption spread through the alliance's governments like a poison, killing its people from the inside.

The memories end. Michiru cannot tell if what she sees is a vision or a nightmare. She sees Sailor Moon, trapped in darkness, watching in horror as the world turns black. Sailor Neptune looks down, there are bodies all around and there is blood on her hands. She looks up, and Sailor Uranus is charging at her with her Space Sword, something wild in her eyes. Sailor Neptune drops to her knees, and before her vision goes she sees Sailor Uranus looking down at her bloodied hands and sword in horror.

Sailor Neptune is bathed and calmed in the strange sea, warmed by its hidden fire's glow. She suddenly feels the weight of a pendant on her neck, but in the dream fog she cannot see it clearly. It feels like it belongs around her neck, like it belongs to her. The voice and the light return.

"This is where you need to go. Don't forget, Sailor Neptune. Do not forget this vision."

The voice and the light fade again, and Michiru is dragged back into her memories. Maria finds herself in the vid room of her palace, watching the fall of the Moon Kingdom. The first senshi to fall is Sailor Mars. Sailor Neptune is struck with great sorrow, the first thing she's felt in centuries. She and Sailor Mars never met, but while watching the senshi, Sailor Neptune had come to feel that the two of them were kindred spirits. In Sailor Mars she saw a strange reflection of herself. They both had a sort of inhuman elegance, treacherous servants, visions of the future, and they both wore a cold exterior around those other than their closest friends. But where Sailor Mars was fiery, openly passionate and unashamed of emotion, Sailor Neptune was cold, always wearing a mask.

She watches, expressionless as the guardian senshi fall. The servants are frightened of her, and they gossip about her lack of compassion. She knows that they are the traitorous snakes without compassion. If not for their stupid rules and greed, Neptune believes that the Queen could have done something to prevent this. When Queen Serenity sacrifices her life to seal away the evil and send the inner senshi to the future, Sailor Neptune knows that all hope is lost for the Silver Millennium. She doesn't even shed a tear. She goes to the Moon, not knowing know why, just feeling compelled to do so. The whispers of her servants follow her out. When she arrives, she finds Sailors Uranus and Pluto there.

Most believe that Sailor Pluto is only a legend, like Sailor Saturn, but Sailor Neptune had met Sailor Pluto once. She'd been experimenting with her ability to look into the future with the Deep Aqua Mirror, and Sailor Pluto appeared before her and blocked that part of the mirror's power. She said that the future as it was could not be changed, and would only turn out worse if someone attempted to change it. It had made Sailor Neptune uncomfortable. Sailor Pluto primarily existed outside of time. What they believed was yet to come was already a completed chapter in Sailor Pluto's book.

Sailor Neptune was suspicious of Sailor Pluto's presence and the way she had been been drawn there. When their three talismans resonate and a flash of purple light reveals an unfamiliar senshi, she knows. Sailor Saturn is no legend. From the look on her face Helena knows it too and they draw close to each other for comfort as Sailor Pluto disappears and Sailor Saturn begins lowering her Silence Glaive.

Michiru gasps awake, and struggles to keep the dream-vision in her mind. She turns to wake Haruka, but decides not to when she sees the peaceful look on her face. She seeks out Setsuna, but finds her room empty. A small ball of icy dread blooms in her stomach. Fully awake, she calmly goes downstairs and writes down her dream-vision. She is unwilling to return to sleep, so she makes some tea, turns on the news, and listens with her mind and ears for hints of crashing waves.

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Sorry it's been so long! Been buried in research papers. I plan to upload my Ami one-shot sometime next week, after I turn in the last paper.


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